A Russian military court has sentenced 19 people over the deadly attack on a concert venue near Moscow that left 149 people dead and more than 500 injured, marking the deadliest mass shooting in Russia in two decades.
According to state media, four gunmen received life sentences, while 11 accomplices were also convicted for their roles in the assault. Four additional defendants were handed prison terms ranging from 19 to 22 years.
The attack occurred on 22 March 2024 at the Crocus City Concert Hall in Krasnogorsk, located on the outskirts of Moscow. Armed men stormed the venue during a rock concert, opening fire on the crowd before setting parts of the building ablaze.
At the time of the assault, around 6,000 people were inside the concert hall. The fires triggered by the attackers quickly spread through the complex, eventually causing the roof to collapse. Many victims died from gunshot wounds, while others succumbed to smoke inhalation as the flames engulfed the building.
Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that the four men identified as the gunmen are citizens of Tajikistan. Details about how the defendants pleaded in court have not been made public, and it remains unclear whether they plan to appeal the verdicts.
The trial was conducted behind closed doors. When the suspects first appeared in court after their arrest, they showed visible signs of injuries, and one of them was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair, raising concerns about possible mistreatment during detention.
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K), a regional branch of the extremist group Islamic State. The group later released video footage of the assault, which media outlets verified as authentic.
IS-K is known to operate primarily in parts of Central and South Asia and aims to establish a caliphate across countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.
Despite the claim of responsibility by the militant group, Russian authorities have repeatedly suggested that Ukraine may have been involved in the attack. Ukrainian officials have firmly rejected those allegations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously said it was predictable that Russian President Vladimir Putin would attempt to link the attack to Ukraine. The two countries have been at war since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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